


a night in

by xslytherclawx



Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Extras, Domestic, F/M, Intimacy, Post-Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, Pre-Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-17
Updated: 2019-03-17
Packaged: 2019-11-18 23:47:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18128126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xslytherclawx/pseuds/xslytherclawx
Summary: Sometimes they almost feel like a normal couple.





	a night in

**Author's Note:**

  * For [basketofnovas (slashmarks)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/slashmarks/gifts).



> This takes place sometime between AotC and RotS, although I really can't say when.

Coruscant was nothing like Naboo. Not in how overdeveloped it was, because that was really a given, or even how diverse it was (especially compared to Naboo’s relative homogeneity of humans and gungans). No – it was more that Padmé associated Naboo with greenery, tranquility, safety, and – most importantly – Anakin.

Naboo was where she’d first come to see Anakin as a man. Where he’d first kissed her. Where they’d first had sex. Where she’d married him.

They did have their moments of privacy on Coruscant, but it wasn’t the same.

She knew, really, that this was all in her head. Her relationship with Anakin had been no less inappropriate on Naboo – no less secret. There had been more privacy on Naboo, surely, and fewer people around, but that didn’t mean that Naboo had been perfect.

The privacy they did have on Coruscant was fleeting. They could steal a moment here and there, and in her chambers, they could typically find some excuse to be alone.

She loved him. She loved her job. She couldn’t see herself going back to Naboo any time soon, and even if she would – Anakin was a Jedi.

They stole time when they could, and what Padmé loved most of all were the nights that they were able to sleep together – and she did mean sleep. They could find a private space to have sex without spending the whole night in each other’s arms. The intimacy of sleeping in the same bed, holding each other – it made it all worth it.

On one such night, she sat on the counter in her small (typically disused) kitchen as Anakin cooked. It wasn't very befitting of a senator – as Anakin made sure to remind her with his trademark smile. She fired back that she wasn’t a typical senator, and he laughed and kissed her.

It was easy, on nights like this, to pretend that they were a normal couple. They flirted and kissed and for all of Coruscant outside of her chambers, it felt as if they were the only two people in the world. Anakin cooked them a specialty from Tatooine, and they ate it together in her kitchen, not even bothering with the formal dining room.

They retired to her bedroom after dinner. She didn’t know that she’d ever be completely used to the almost reverent way Anakin looked at her, or how he touched her like it was the greatest honour he could ever know.

Afterward, as they lay together, she wished that she could spend every night like this. Anakin played with her hair, and she felt completely at peace. She wasn’t thinking about the war, or the senate, or the fact that her husband was breaking the Jedi code to be with her – she couldn’t. She thought, instead, about Anakin – his beautiful eyes, his gorgeous smile, the way his sandy blond hair felt coarse under her fingertips as she stroked it.

She wondered if they’d have found each other under different circumstances. She hoped so, even if some logical part of her knew that Anakin’s life before the Jedi had been the life of a slave on an Outer Rim desert planet, and she’d been Queen of Naboo.

“Padmé,” Anakin said, breaking the silence.

“Yes, Ani?”

“Can I braid your hair?”

The question caught her completely off-guard. When she looked at him, the hope was plain as day on his face. He was _hopeful._ About braiding her hair. It was such a mundane thing – how could she refuse?

“Are you sure you know how?” she teased. “Braiding hair’s very complicated.”

Anakin put on an offended face. “Senator, you’re talking to the best hairdresser on Coruscant.”

“I had no idea I was in the presence of such _talent.”_

He cracked a smile. “I forgive you.”

Padmé kissed him. She was careful not to let thing escalate. “Go ahead and show me how talented you are.”

She sat up, and Anakin did the same. He pulled her into his lap, kissed her shoulder, and started separating her hair into sections to braid. She let herself relax.

He had been right: he knew how to braid hair. At least mostly. He worked deliberately, and as he worked, he made up stories about his famous clients. She had to laugh at some of them.

“I love you,” she said after a particularly absurd story about a Rodian actress.

She knew without even needing to look _exactly_ how proud of himself he looked. “I love you, too, Padmé.”

He finished braiding her hair, and, because he was Anakin and a bit of a show-off, he used the Force to bring her mirror over to face her. She expected something lumpier and less – well, _good._ She kissed him and congratulated him on a job well done, and he set the mirror back.

“Well, if it’s good enough for Rodia’s star actress, I hope it’s good enough for my wife,” he said. He kissed her. “I’m glad you like it.”

She grinned. “I can think of something _else_ I’d like to do if all that hair braiding didn’t exhaust you.”

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> I _love_ Anakin and Padmé both, and this was a fun excuse to rewatch AotC and TCW both to try to pin down their characterisations.  
> I hope you enjoyed your gifts, basketofnovas!


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